10 BI agents probed for ‘helping Korean fugitive escape’ – BI

Korean fugitive Seong Dae Cho is seen arrested by BI agents on Oct. 13, 2015. INQUIRER PHOTO/Jodee A. Agoncillo

MANILA, Philippines — For P1 million, some Bureau of Immigration employees facilitated the escape of a Korean fugitive from the agency’s ward facility in Bicutan, a BI official said on Tuesday.

BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison said Seongdae Cho, who was recaptured on Saturday in Parañaque, has implicated some 10 BI employees for aiding him in his escape last Sept. 29. Cho, who was being detained in an undisclosed facility, as of Tuesday, allegedly paid the employees a P1-million bribe money for his escape, Mison added. Mison is not naming the 10 employees for now, pending further investigation.

“There might be more than the identified BI employee,” he said, adding that the 10 other employees were temporarily transferred to the BI main office in Intramuros where they have been facing investigation.

“He (Cho) released a voluntary affidavit implicating BI agents who helped him escape. He also gave us tips on how to secure the area. The [escape] was done in connivance with some of our own personnel. By our own fact-finding commission, we will have an incoming recommendation with the Department of Justice so that they will be punished accordingly,” Mison said.

He added that the closed circuit television footage of Cho’s escape and affidavit would be used in the investigations by NBI and BI.

Mison said if the BI personnel’s involvement in the escape were proven, they would be dismissed for administrative complaints and be made to face criminal charges. “A complete overhaul of the manpower complement of the BIWF (Bureau of Immigration Ward Facility) was also implemented,” he added.

Following his escape—a first in the agency—the immigration bureau will enforce a restrictor in visitor control, implement a more scientific basis in doing the headcount of the ward, and a bio-metric-based photo identification every headcount. “Before it’s just the usual physical attendance,” he added.

They will also appoint a new jail warden, according to Mison, who admitted that some BI employees had been lax in securing the gate entries.

Cho has a pending case in Cavite for robbery-extortion, and was recaptured after an intensive manhunt operation over the weekend, Mison said. He was presented to the media on Tuesday.

On Sept.11, the Philippine National Police turned Cho over to the BI ward facility after the Cavite Provincial Prosecutor’s Office dismissed his cases of human trafficking, prostitution and sex abuse, and usurpation. Cho, who has been in the Philippines for 3 years, has also an extortion case in Korea, according to Mison.

The BI chief said the Korean embassy has canceled Cho’s passport and has issued a warrant of arrest for attempting to extort money from his fellow Koreans. On Sept. 9, the BI’s board of commissioners issued a summary deportation order against Cho for “undesirability and for being undocumented due to his canceled passport.

Mison said Cho’s modus was offering Korean nationals women for sex and conniving with alleged police officers to entrap the victims in a “raid operation.” To forego arrest, the Korean victims were asked to pay around P2.5M to P5M.

Cho was one of 58 fugitives in the country arrested by BI this year, Mison said. More than 50 percent are Koreans, according to Mison.

“We will make sure that his affidavit and other related evidence are sufficient before he is deported to Korea in about two weeks’ time,” Mison added. Cho will be facing all his cases back in Korea.

“The Korean attaché promised to work with us to deport all the other Korean fugitives,” Mison said. SFM